33. Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)

Directed by Mike Newell

Written by Richard Curtis 

Produced by Duncan Kenworthy, Tim Bevan, Eric Felner and Richard Curtis

Starring: Hugh Grant, Andie MacDowell, James Fleet, Simon Callow, John Hannah and Kristin Scott Thomas 

Country: United Kingdom

Running Time: 117 minutes

Release date: March 9, 1994

Why you should see it?

This is a British comedy, and the first of several comedies written by Richard Curtis starring Hugh Grant. This is one of the best chick flicks ever made. This film is the first of several movies to have a male leader not over mainly; Charles is a insecure, stutter but charming man who is able to woo much of the female charaters of the film.

Let’s be honest the movie is great mainly thanks too Hugh Grant, is his charisma that pull together this film. Four Weddings and a Funeral is a very well balance romantic comedy with enough emphasis in the romantic but with enough drama to make it work. The script of this film set the bar for the romantic comedies and just a few had reach it, and most of them were written by Richard Curtis. Curtis was able to create a wide fine and unique characters.

PLOT

The film follows the adventures of a group of friends through the eyes of Charles an Englishman, who is smitten with Carrie, an attractive American, whom Charles repeatedly meets at weddings and at a funeral.

The first wedding is that of Angus and Laura, at which Charles is the best man. At this wedding, Charles meets Carrie for the first time and spends the night with her. Carrie teases him by pretending that now they have slept together, they will also have to get married, which Charles endeavours to respond to before realizing she is joking. She then goes back home to America, observing that they may have missed an opportunity.

The second wedding is that of Bernard and Lydia , a couple who got together at the previous wedding.  Charles is happy to discover that Carrie is attending the wedding until she introduces him to her fiancé, Sir Hamish Banks, a wealthy politician from Scotland. At the reception, Charles finds himself seated at a table with several ex-girlfriends who relate embarrassing stories about his inability to be discreet, and afterward, bumps into Henrietta with whom he had a difficult relationship.

As the evening wears on, Charles finds himself in an empty hotel suite watching Carrie and Hamish leave in a taxicab, only to be trapped in the bath after the newlyweds suddenly stumble into the room to have sex. After Charles awkwardly exits the room, Henrietta confronts him about his habit of “serial monogamy”, telling him that he is afraid of letting anyone get too close to him. Shortly after this encounter, Charles runs into Carrie, and they end up spending another night together.

A few months later, Charles receives an invitation to Carrie’s wedding in Scotland. While shopping for a present in London he accidentally bumps into Carrie in a shop and ends up helping her select her wedding dress. Carrie also astonishes him with a list of her more than thirty sexual partners (he learns he is #32). He later tries to confess his love to her and hints that he would like to have a relationship with her. However, he says it rather lamely, and the confession obviously comes too late.

The third wedding is that of Carrie and Hamish at a Scottish castle. Charles attends, depressed at the prospect of Carrie marrying Hamish. As the reception gets under way, Gareth instructs his friends to go forth and seek potential mates; Fiona’s brother, Tom stumbles through an attempt to connect with the minister’s wife, while Charles’ sister, Scarlett , strikes up a conversation with a tall, attractive American named Chester. As Charles watches Carrie and Hamish dance as husband and wife, Charles’ friend Fiona deduces his feelings about Carrie. When Charles asks why Fiona is not married, she confesses that she has always loved Charles since they first met years ago. Charles is surprised and empathetic, but does not requite her love.

At the wedding, Matthew’s lover, Gareth, dies suddenly of a heart attack: Matthew is in another part of the room listening to the groom’s toast when Gareth dies.

The funeral is that of Gareth. At the funeral, Matthew recites the poem Funeral Blues by W. H. Auden, commemorating his relationship with Gareth. After the funeral, Charles and Tom have a discussion about whether finding that one true love is just a futile effort, and ponder that, while their clique have always viewed themselves as proud-to-be-single, Gareth and Matthew had in fact been a “married” couple amongst them all the while.

The fourth wedding takes place ten months later, and is that of Charles, who has decided to marry Henrietta. However, moments before the ceremony, Carrie arrives at the church and reveals to Charles that she and Hamish are no longer together. Charles has a crisis of confidence, which he reveals to his deaf brother David. At the altar, when the vicar asks if anyone knows a reason why the couple should not marry, David asks Charles to translate for him, and says in sign language that he suspects the groom is having doubts and loves someone else. The vicar asks whether Charles does love someone else, and Charles replies, “I do.” Henrietta punches Charles and the wedding is abruptly halted.

Finally, Carrie visits Charles, who is recovering from the debacle, to check that he is OK and apologise for attending. Charles confesses that, while standing at the altar, he realised that for the first time in his life he totally and utterly loved one person, “and it wasn’t the person standing next to me in the veil.” Charles makes a proposal of lifelong commitment without marriage to Carrie, saying, “Do you think not being married to me might maybe be something you could consider doing for the rest of your life?” Carrie responds by saying, “I do.”

As the movie ends we see Henrietta marry a member of the guard, Scarlett marry Chester, David marry his girlfriend, Tom marry his distant cousin Deirdre , Matthew with a new partner, Fiona marrying Prince Charles and Charles and Carrie with their son, presumably not married.